Jan Howlett once told a student: “To learn and to do better, it has to hurt.”

It was something the founder of Howlett Academy, a popular private school in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, truly believed — that any student could learn, no matter how much they struggled.

Now, her students, colleagues and family are grieving after she died of a brain tumour Sunday. Many former students have written to express how Howlett changed their lives, said her husband, David Ben.

“She used to say she taught kids who suffer from NBT — never been taught,” he said. “All these kids that are quick to be labelled, they just haven’t been taught. A great teacher can teach any kid.”

A lifelong educator, Howlett was born in Australia and taught there and in London, England, before settling in Toronto in 1988. She taught at several public schools and one private school in the city.

But about 11 years ago, Howlett’s frustration with the public school system boiled over. At one point, a teacher suggested one of their sons seek counselling because his high achievements could cause anxiety, said Ben.

“We thought, ‘We’re not too interested in a school that’s afraid of achievement,’” he said.

“The acceptance of mediocrity in this country used to drive her nuts. You can’t say anyone was wrong, or there’s a better way, because you’re going to hurt their feelings.”

Howlett decided to pull her sons, Harrison and Court, in Grades 4 and 6 at the time, out of public school and home school them instead. Parents began calling to see if she could home school their kids, too.

Soon after, she bought a building on Madison Ave., near Bloor St. W. and Spadina Ave. The small school grew quickly through word-of-mouth. Howlett Academy now teaches 60 kids from junior kindergarten to Grade 8.

The school’s philosophy is to teach children to master every subject, using methods such as repetition, moving at one’s own pace and receiving lots of extra attention, said teacher Madeleine Zaarour.

“Jan loathed the word ‘covered.’ It’s not enough to ‘cover’ a subject. We teach the child to mastery,” she said.

Howlett was known for her tough love approach. She didn’t give easy As and she marked wrong answers in red ink. But the teacher boosted students’ confidence, rather than discouraging them, said Zaarour.

“The red pen is not to put anybody down. The red pen is to teach somebody to be perfect,” she said.

Zaarour began to volunteer at the school eight years ago after her son Elias enrolled in Grade 1. Howlett encouraged her to go to teachers’ college because it was important to her to see other women succeed, said Zaarour.

As for Elias, now 13, he recalled in a graduation speech last month how he had struggled with reading and writing when he first came to the school. Every time he sat down to write creatively, he would start to cry.

But Howlett told him that learning “has to hurt,” and that it takes 10,000 repetitions to master a subject. She never doubted his ability to succeed, he said.

“Yes, it has to hurt, but it made me an excellent writer, all because Jan never gave up on me,” he said. “I hope that one day I’ll give to others what Jan has given me . . . the gift of writing among many other things.”